Battle of the Third Reich

"Captain Wilson, come and see this."

Nicholson smiled and passed the newspaper in his hand.

"Oh? The German navy warship disappeared, and the Nazis invented new weapons. It seems to be a mythical story compiled by some low-powered newspaper editors, Your Excellency Commander."

Captain Wilson glanced at the newspaper headline and said with a smile.

"According to reliable information... The Nazis have invented technology that can make warships invisible, and large-scale landings may occur within two weeks? Ha, these things are completely nonsense, sir. They really came out and really admired them. The imagination of those journalists.

Sir, the reporter who wrote this article should be recruited into the Royal Naval Intelligence Service. He can easily get even this kind of highly classified information. Those of us who have undergone rigorous training should seem to resign and go back to farming. Cattle go. Haha, which newspaper is this? "

Wilson turned the newspaper page.

""Daily Telegraph"! Why did they start posting this kind of garbage."

The captain said in surprise.

"Well, they are still cautious. The Times directly made this headline."

Nicholson took a sip of tea lightly, then put down the cup and stood up.

"These are the newspapers sent yesterday. I think the people on the streets of London must be talking about this mythical story, Mr. Wilson."

"Maybe, Your Excellency Commander. But I don't think anyone with a mind will believe this. Unexpectedly, the consistently rigorous Times has fallen to the point of publishing this kind of gossip, which makes me a little frustrated."

Wilson threw the newspaper in his hand on the chart table, then took off his military cap and smirked with a wry smile while rubbing the hair on his forehead.

Nicholson pulled up the hem of the military uniform and then adjusted the entire sleeve. Which wide golden ribbon and a narrow golden concentric circle on the cuffs of the military uniform appeared even more golden under the sunlight shining from the porthole.

"Mr. Wilson, there is one thing they were right. The German navy fleet did disappear from Wilhelmshaven. But their whereabouts are now under our control, but they cannot be disclosed to the public. London agrees to the newspapers to publish this There is a reason for this. This is the simplest method we use to confuse the enemy, and it has always been effective."

"I understand this very well, Your Commander. But this aroused my curiosity. Where did the German fleet go? Sir." Wilson asked respectfully.

"Although this is confidential, I can tell you, Colonel. We got the exact information. The entire German fleet secretly crossed the Swedish waters two days ago. Those warships are now all gathered in the port of Kiel, Germany. See The damage to their ships in the early battles was also great."

"Oh, this is the case. It seems that the German Navy will not have any major actions in the near future. Thank you for telling me this secret, sir."

"Don't tell anyone else, Colonel." Nicholson said with a smile.

"Of course, sir." Wilson nodded and answered.

"Okay, today the weather is good. Can you walk me with me on the deck? Wilson." Nicholson took the military cap handed over by the adjutant and smiled at Wilson.

"Leave it to them here, go out with me, our road is still very long."

"Observe, sir."

"Mr. Kotst!" Wilson called to the first officer.

"Yes, Captain."

"I'll leave it to you here. When Sud arrives, I will send someone to notify me."

"Sir, please, sir!" the first officer replied loudly and respectfully.

The captain nodded, then put on a military cap and followed Nicholson and walked down the bridge.

Brigadier General Nicholson enjoyed walking on the flat deck of the battleship very much. Watching the orderly work of the sailors in their respective positions made him feel a sense of accomplishment.

The Navy is like a precision machine, and he is now close to the core of this machine.

Nicholson felt the harmonious rhythm when the machine was running, and the great power hidden behind this harmony. He enjoys this feeling very much, and holds this huge power in his hands, and every time he can't help but tremble with excitement.

Nicholson is an experienced veteran navy. Before that, he has been in the position of commander of the destroyer unit. Someone once joked that if one day the Royal Navy wanted to organize all the destroyers into a fleet, the commander-in-chief of the fleet was not Nicholson, because he worked in all the destroyer squadrons of the Royal Navy. Ever.

Although it was just a joke, it was also true that the 54-year-old naval officer was indeed the commander of the Royal Navy’s best destroyer fleet.

Nicholson certainly does not want to stay in the position of commander of the destroyer fleet. As an excellent officer of the Royal Navy, he has his own ambitions. However, because the Royal Navy always pays attention to qualifications, and the naval officers with deeper qualifications are everywhere, so the dream of commanding a higher-level fleet has not been realized for two decades in the rank of colonel.

However, as the gunfire of the Battle of Dunkel carved ceased, Nicholson's fate changed in a turning way.

The Germans used large-caliber train guns to help the Royal Navy commander clear all obstacles on the road of promotion. His powerful competitors had either sunk into the deep straits or entered with the huge and powerful warships. The German prisoner of war camp with complete facilities.

So Colonel Nicholson found that he became one of the few surviving commanders in the Royal Navy overnight. In particular, he also has a very rich combat command experience, which makes him the hottest person in the British Admiralty.

One week after the end of the Battle of Dunkerque, Nicholson was promoted for the first time and became a Brigadier General of the Royal Navy.

He finally realized his dream, leading the h fleet consisting of two light cruisers to search for the German camouflage attack ship in the North Atlantic. Although it was only two light cruisers, Nicholson was already very satisfied.

Unexpectedly, after two combat patrols, he received the order of the second promotion of the Admiralty.

With the rank of Brigadier General of the Royal Navy, Nicholson finally bid farewell to the rank of school-level officers, stepped into the gate of general-level officers, and became one of the fastest-growing officers of the Royal Navy.

Becoming a general officer meant that he began to move towards the senior naval leadership and got the chance to become a core member of the Royal Navy.

In the eyes of others, the 54-year-old Brigadier General is now at a peak in terms of both physical strength and wisdom, and the future is really limitless.

Brigadier Nicholson is now standing on the broad first-floor deck of the British Royal Navy's heavy cruiser "York", looking gaily at his majestic fleet, at least in his eyes.

Four light cruisers and five destroyers, although not as powerful as they are, are also a force to be reckoned with.

At his feet is the fleet's flagship "York", a heavy cruiser with a displacement of more than 10,000, with six 203 mm caliber cannons, and a maximum speed of more than thirty knots. Although it is always a bit older, but the huge hull The turret can also make people see the pride and pride of the Royal Navy.

On the left wing of the "York" is the "enthusiastic" class light cruiser "Emerald". This light cruiser built at the end of World War I had a surprising speed at that time.

Thirty-one, this is a very good result until now. This old ship with seven 150mm guns still has considerable combat power and vitality due to the careful maintenance of the sailors.

On the right wing of the "York" is the light cruiser "Orion". This "Leander" class light cruise was still under the establishment of the Mediterranean Fleet two weeks ago. With eight 150mm guns, the overall performance can only be said to be remarkable.

Behind the "York" is the light cruiser "Sheffield", the fleet's second battleship.

The "Southampton" class light cruiser is a very excellent warship of class one design, with fierce firepower, ideal speed, balanced protection, and everything is almost perfect.

Its composite index has even surpassed the flagship "York". If she was not a light cruiser and did not install the flagship facility of the squadron, Nicholson would definitely choose the "Sheffield" as the fleet without hesitation. flagship.

Behind the "Sheffield" are two high-speed ocean-going freighters. They keep a distance between each other and closely follow the "Sheffield", which makes one can't help but think of the maids who followed the court lady.

The one on the left is the "Scottish Gems", a large cargo ship of 7,500 tons. A beautiful white bridge and two prominent loading cranes tower high above the black hull.

The other is the Fleet Oil Supply Ship "Pink Bird", which is a modified 4,000-ton ocean-going oil tanker. Because her draft is relatively shallow, although her actual tonnage is much smaller than the "Scottish Gem", it looks Similar to the former.

The four cruisers and the two ocean-going freighters are arranged in a box formation, and each ship maintains a distance of 700 yards.

Guarding the outer perimeter of the fleet is a circular array of five destroyers.

Three D-class destroyers, "Defender", "Elegant" and "Happy" were guarded in front of the fleet, while two v-class high-speed anti-aircraft destroyers served as the guard of the fleet.

Nicholson looked at this fleet with great pride. Although this fleet is not the most powerful, it is definitely the most elite among all the fleets of the British Royal Navy. He is confident of completing this important task. .

Indeed, he has no slight doubts about whether he can complete the task, which in his view is no suspense.

These four cruisers alone are enough to resist a dozen German camouflage assault ships. Not to mention that the Germans now have so many disguised assault ships operating at sea, and if so, those assault ships absolutely do not have the guts to attack their fleet unless the German captain is a lunatic who wants to commit suicide.

And this route that I sailed is a secret route carefully selected by the Admiralty, away from ordinary commercial shipping lines. Although this route is a lot farther than those of the merchant shipping routes in terms of overall distance, it also means that it is far from the threat of submarines.

The German submarine is now the number one enemy of the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, the Navy is now extremely short of long-range **** patrol ships, and can only allow Britain’s precious overseas routes to be so naked open in front of these fierce German submarine captains.

After the Battle of Dunkerque, the German submarine suddenly became unusually arrogant, and they began to swarm like a pack of wolves towards the British transport fleet.

The German submarines have proved the countless times that the old frigates that have not been modified are just a pile of waste in front of them.

They often secretly approached the fleets with armed escorts in the dark night. They first easily killed the old convoys in that fleet, and then sneaked into the center of the fleet to slaughter the unarmed merchant ships.

The losses of those cargo ships sailing alone on the route are incalculable.

British maritime transport is actually in a state of semi-paralysis, and the tonnage of ships lost has shown a straight upward trend.

But the Royal Navy was helpless. The heavy loss of the transport fleet has led to a shortage of materials in the UK, and the shortage of materials has prevented the Navy from transforming and manufacturing **** ships that effectively counter submarines, which has become a vicious circle.

If you can't find a way to deal with it in a short period of time, the British maritime transport line may collapse completely, which is definitely a disaster for the UK.

If the Germans successfully cut off the UK’s ties overseas, it would only be a matter of time before the UK collapsed.

Those German submarines can now wipe out almost any target they can find. Although the Royal Navy fought back bravely, it had little effect.

Although the newspaper constantly published how many German submarines were sunk by the Royal Navy, Nicholson knew exactly how much water the reports contained.

As far as he knows so far, only two German submarines have evidence to prove that they were sunk, and the others are just the results claimed by the patrol captains.

And just a week before his departure, something happened that made the Royal Navy lose face.

A German ocean-going submarine actually surfaced in the daytime and launched a artillery battle with a lightly armed convoy in the anti-submarine zone designated by the Royal Navy.

What makes Nicholson even more frustrating is that the submarine actually won by virtue of its superiority in artillery caliber.

This is not enough, the captain of that submarine may be determined to want to slap on the face of the British Royal Navy already faceless.

After sinking the armed ocean-going anti-submarine trawler, he even commanded the submarine to float on the surface in such a big way that he could catch up with the slower merchant ship fleet than her by the slow speed of the submarine at 17 knots. Then, with torpedoes and artillery, half of the fleet was killed like a target.

This is a disgrace that has never been seen since the establishment of the British Royal Navy. The commander of the Royal Navy's offshore patrol fleet was almost angry, and Churchill kicked back to his hometown. That night Churchill gave the Secretary of the Navy an order to start the "continuation" operation.

As the commander of the operation, Nicholson was not informed of the substance of the classified operation until the day before departure.

At this time, he realized how heavy the burden on his shoulders was, because this action actually related to the national movement of the British Empire.

The destruction of the German submarine on the British transport line and the increasing lack of domestic resources made the British cabinet deeply worried about whether the empire could resist the future invasion of Germany. Therefore, the British cabinet formulated a national emergency plan.

Once Germany invades the British mainland, and the British resistance fails, the British cabinet will be transferred to Canada with the royal family.

They will establish the British Government in exile, and then lead all the Commonwealth countries and colonial governments to continue the battle with Germany until the British win the final victory.

They had no doubt that the British Empire would win the final victory, and Nicholson shared the same view.

But the operation of a country and government requires a lot of money to back it up, especially in war, even the smallest combat power needs to be supported by money.

In order to ensure the normal operation of the British government in exile and continue to fight against Germany, the British Cabinet decided to transfer most of the domestic funds to Canada.

Things like cash are backed by a country’s gold reserves. If the German invasion succeeds, then Britain’s gold reserves will surely be plundered, and the world’s hardest pound will become a pile of waste paper.

So the funds that an exiled government can use must be harder than banknotes.

Therefore, the British Cabinet decided to ship most of the British National Reserve Gold to Canada, and in addition to those gold, there are a large number of royal jewelry, antiques, artworks and hundreds of millions of foreign securities.

The British Cabinet decided to ship these materials to Canada in batches. The entire transportation plan was code-named "Crusaders".

Before Nicholson accepted the order, the United Kingdom had carried out several transport operations, but they were all on a small scale, and small amounts of transport served as a temptation.

The results were mixed, half of the materials were transported by the German submarine to the bottom of the sea, and the other half arrived safely in Halifax Harbour, Canada.

After several tentative transportations, the British Admiralty finally determined that the current route was safe, because German submarines were attracted to ordinary transportation routes, and the sea area through which this route passed has not been found once There are signs of the emergence of German submarines.

So the last and the most critical shipment of the "Crusaders" program began. The British Navy Department assigned the code name for this operation as "continuation".

Nicholson was a bit flattered that he was given such an important mission, and felt a little proud.

He is confident in completing this operation, because after such a well-planned plan by the British Admiralty, it is impossible to fail in any case.

The only thing that made him feel bad was that the strength of the fleet was a little weaker this time. If there is a battleship, it will be perfect.

Of course Nicholson knew that this was just wishful thinking. These warships are already the limit that the Royal Navy can tune out. After all, the British mainland is still under threat from the Germans.

"Captain, see Sud."

The watchman shouted loudly on the bridge.

Nicholson and the captain quickly turned around and looked towards the head of the ship, only to see a small black spot faintly appear on the horizon line in the distance.

"It's Sud, we finally arrived at the first stop safely, Your Excellency Commander."

Wilson put down the telescope in his hand and said to Nicholson with a smile.

"Yes, Captain Wilson. I hope the road ahead will be equally smooth."

"I hope so, Your Commander."

This naval fleet, full of treasures, slowly sailed towards the distant islands, and no one knew what they were about to encounter.